What it Looked Like Working For NASA in the '60s

See the men and women who made space flight a reality hard at work.

NASA was started in 1958, just as the Space Race with the Soviets was heating up. With pressure to reach the stars before their rivals, the 1960s saw the new department expand rapidly, with thousands of workers focusing on research, flight testing, and learning everything they could about the nature of the final frontier.

Go behind the scenes with the geniuses who brought what was then only a fantasy into the real world. 

Engineer Frank Kutina and a mechanic examine the setup of an advanced combustor rig inside one of the test cells

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1966

George Mazaris, works with an assistant to obtain the preliminary measurements of cadmium sulfide thin-film solar cells being tested in the Space Environmental Chamber

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1967

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1966

A researcher checks a 22-percent scale model of a Convair F‒106 Delta Dart

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1967

Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1968

Technicians set up test hardware inside the test section of the Icing Research Tunnel

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1969

A rectangular drop test vehicle perched above 450-foot shaft at the Zero Gravity Research Facility

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1969

A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1969

Astronaut Neil Armstrong examines a Vertical and Short Takeoff and Landing test setup

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, late 1950s

Screwjacks located on the exterior of the second throat section in the 10- by 10-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1969

A technician prepares a test sample in the Zero Gravity Research Facility clean room

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1968

Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1966

Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

1970

Operators in the Engine Research Building’s Central Control Room Lewis Research Center, 1968

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1968

Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1970

Setup of a Surveyor/Atlas/Centaur shroud in the Space Power Chambers for a leak test

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1966

Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1966

Robert Johnson sets the lubricant flow while Donald Buckley adjusts the bearing specimen on an artificial hip simulator

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Lewis Research Center, 1966

Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

1966

Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Mississippi, 1966

Construction of the Stennis Space Center

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Mississippi, 1966

Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Mississippi, 1966

The completed Stennis Space Center

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Mississippi, 1966

George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Richard Lancashire operates a gas laser interferometer in the Electric Conversion Laboratory, Atlas-Centaur Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Shroud Test, A Centaur second-stage rocket in the Space Propulsion Research Facility, Worker in the Zero Gravity Facility, Patricia Coles, Miss NASA, poses with the Apollo 8 capsule, Vibration Test of a SNAP-8 Sodium-Potassium Alloy Pump, Workers inspecting a Solar Collector Mirror, Solar Mirror Fabrication in the NASA Technical Services Building, Looking over blueprints for the Stennis Space Center, Construction of the Stennis Space Center, Rocket testing at the Stennis Space Center, The completed Stennis Space Center, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

Mississippi, 1966

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